Fan who caught Ackley’s first homer has a cool story to tell

Dustin Ackley rounds the bases after hitting his first Major League home run. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Michael Woods almost didn’t go to Saturday’s game between the Seattle Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies.

And when he did, the 32-year-old band instructor at Central Kitsap High School wound up sitting in a seat purchased on StubHub, which, luckily, was right next to the four seats his group owned in the right field bleachers as part of a 16-game package.

It was also the seat to which Dustin Ackley hit his first Major League home run. And where Woods, a Bremerton resident and self-described Mariners “junkie,” snagged the homer bare-handed after his fiancee predicted the ball would come right to him.

You really can’t make this stuff up.

So here’s how the day came together — Woods, his fiancee, Katherine, and her family bought a 16-game package in the right field bleachers at the beginning of the season. Woods had already gone to the Monday and Tuesday games, one as a celebration of Katherine’s birthday, and had decided not to sell tickets he had for Friday, too, because he wanted to see Ackley’s big league debut. Neither Monday or Tuesday were part of the family’s season-ticket package.

But Saturday was. And it almost didn’t happen. It was Katherine’s brother’s birthday, Woods said, and since her brother isn’t a big baseball fan, it took some convincing to get him to come out to the park with them and use the season tickets.

“We thought about selling them,” Woods said in a phone interview.

After they talked Katherine’s brother into going, they were in need of a fifth seat. They were in luck. Through the almighty power of StubHub, Woods was able to find a seat right next to Katherine, her brother and her parents in row 30.

It was a good decision, as it turned out. Ackley stepped to the plate against Phillies starter Vance Worley to lead off the second inning. He worked a 3-2 count. Then, Katherine turned prophetic.

“When it got to a full count,” Woods said, “Katherine said, ‘Watch this. He’s gonna hit it right to you.’”

And, of course, that’s exactly what happened. Ackley hammered the pitch 386 feet, over the right field fence, right at Woods, who says he never brings a glove to the park because most homers to right field land well in front of them.

Not this one, though.

“Crack of the bat, we all jumped up instantly because it sounded like a home run,” Woods said. “I didn’t think it was going to get as far back as it did, but it was coming right at me.”

Then, panic set in. Fear of being “that guy” who botches the catch of a milestone homer.

“I just stuck my hand up,” he said. “Didn’t really reach over anybody else. I had a couple inches on everyone else around us. The ball hit my hand, and it just stuck there.”

(As an aside, this is a far different reaction from the one I had when Franklin Gutierrez fouled a pitch into the press box on a bee-line for my forehead last week. I ducked and let the ball pound into the drywall behind me. But I digress.)

Think about this for a second. This wasn’t just some random, casual fan who decided to go to a baseball game that day. Woods, along with his fiancee and her family, is a watch-every-game diehard. Remember, he’d gone to the previous night’s game specifically to see Ackley.

And he said Katherine, who just finished school in Salt Lake City, was the only Mariners fan to attend a three-game series between the Tacoma Rainiers and Salt Lake Bees about a month and a half ago. The Rainiers appreciated her support so much that Mike Carp, Alex Liddi and other players greeted her after the third game.

The couple even considered having their wedding at Safeco Field.

So when Woods caught Ackley’s home run ball, the significance of the moment was not lost.

“There was an usher and some guys from alcohol enforcement who came down to our seats,” Woods said. “I knew what I had. I knew what it was, and I’m sure he wants it back.”

The usher took Woods down to the clubhouse — by which time Woods regained feeling in his hand and realized just how much it hurt to catch that thing — where he was introduced to the clubhouse manager.

Woods was told he could have an Ackley autographed baseball in exchange for the home run ball. He asked if he could have a signed bat, too. The clubhouse manager obliged.

So Woods went back to his seat, watched the rest of the game — “would have been nice to get the win,” he said of the Mariners’ 5-1 loss — and likely beamed from ear-to-ear as he did so.

He was told not to unwrap the packages with the bat and ball in them, because if he did, the ink from the autographs might smear.

When he got home, Woods finally got to read what Ackley had written on the baseball.

“Thanks for giving me my first homer — Dustin Ackley.”

Woods said he’ll probably get a case for the ball, which he’ll keep. And he plans on giving the signed bat to Katherine’s dad, because he paid for the tickets.

On the last day of school at Central Kitsap on Monday, Woods was a minor celebrity. He didn’t expect many students to even show up, but when he arrived at the school, there was a contingent of proud kids waiting for him.

“When I got to the hallway, a bunch of my students were standing outside with a big ovation,” Woods said, laughing. “They were clapping for me.”

Consider it a reward for all those years of clapping for the Mariners, Mr. Woods.